‘At a club like Bayern, you need more’ – Matthijs De Ligt accepts ‘eight-goals-a-season’ challenge set by coach

Julian Nagelsmann has demanded “eight goals a season” from new Bayern Munich signing Matthijs de Ligt, a challenge accepted by the Dutchman.

De Ligt joined Bayern from Juventus for £68 million earlier this week, following a difficult spell in Italy.

The 22-year-old scored three times in 42 appearances for the Old Lady last season, and believes players “need more” when playing for a club like Bayern, and is determined to add more goals to his game.

“Obviously, I’m a defender, so for me the most important thing is to defend. I think that’s also the biggest reason why Bayern bought me.

“But obviously at a club like Bayern, you need more, you need to be good in the build-up, you need to defend forward. I think with my aerial ability, I have the possibility to score more goals than I did at Juventus.

“I think this is a big challenge for me. And I think what the coach also said is that we lost a big striker in (Robert) Lewandowski, so we need more players now to score goals. I will accept the challenge.”

De Ligt got his challenge off to the perfect start on his Munich debut when he scored a volley as Bayern put six goals past DC United in a 6-2 win on Thursday.